Reporters told Vice Speaker of the National Assembly Alen Simonyan about what Prosperous Armenia deputy Naira Zohrabyan said. She said that the Prime Minister had mentioned at one point that it is not necessary to fear arbitrage. Zohrabyan had asked the Prime Minister if he thought that deputies were scared of arbitrage even though they were prepared to give up their salaries for a few months to pay the fines. Alen Simonyan responded, “I would suggest that they start giving their salaries now because Armenia has many unsolvable problems from prior administrations. Zohrabyan is free to give her salary to resolve different issues. Regarding fear- when the authorities have been chosen by the free will of the people, they have nothing to fear from the outside world.”
Aravot Daily asked if making a decision on the Amulsar issue would lead to an attack on the government’s authority and ratings. Alen Simonyan said, “Yes, it’s possible if the government carries itself like an activist. It might affect people who have taken on the responsibility themselves. I often hear opinions that we are delaying this issue because we want to make everyone happy instead of making decisions. This can also have an affect.”
Five million AMD was used from the parliament’s budget to wash carpets, which had received a lot of criticism. The Vice Speaker was asked about his opinion of it. “There is the reality and then there are opinions that this was necessary, and opinions that this could have been done in another way.” When asked what his opinion is, he said, “We tend to focus on things that have no importance and ignore things that do. We turn them into trends. Most people who write “Save Amulsar” on Facebook have no idea where it is in Armenia. But when they were cutting trees in Ijevan, this selective environmentalism wasn’t being used. I didn’t see colleagues who were prepared to give up their salaries so people could live without cutting trees. This selective treatment is problematic for me. If I’m an environmentalist or a politician, I can’t do things halfway. This makes me worried because now it’s trendier to create a hashtag and to cause uproar.”
